But I still wouldn't like it.

[andrewducker]

[Poll #688985]

Comments

[dougs.livejournal.com]

There isn't a mechanism for "none of the above" to count towards the total and reduce the percentages. I've ticked none of the above and some of the counts are (incorrectly) still at 100%.

[theferrett.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Also, I'd like "Friends" defined better, because while I could hang around someone who held these opinions and even enjoy their company, I would never go to them with any serious problems. In other words, I could be friends with someone, but not particularly close friends.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Same here, really. I've ticked the major couple of issues. In all cases it would depend how in-your-face and dogmatic they were about things.

[andrewducker]

Dammit - you're right.

I've already got responses though, and people will just have to comment saying "None of the above" for the mo - I'm loath to delete and recreate a poll with answers in it.

[greenfieldsite.livejournal.com]

It looks like at least 17 people responded 'none of the above' to the second and third polls (comparing the number of votes in each poll).

[wychwood]

Just to clarify - when I said I wouldn't be able to enjoy fiction by someone if they believed X, I mean "if they expressed that belief in their writing, and were writing in a modern setting". I very much enjoy Rudyard Kipling, despite his automatic racism, and wouldn't want to throw out Jane Austen because she's sexist, for example :) And their private opinions don't really affect me as a reader, it's only what's in their writing. So if they wrote a vitriolic anti-homosexual tirade, but this was not obvious in, say, Ender's Game their books, I would be able to ignore it for the purpose of enjoying / appreciating said books.

Also, although I'm totally in favour of equal rights for all sexual orientations, I can still respect people with certain differing viewpoints on that issue, whereas racism and sexism I can't. This may change.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I find the worst thing in books (or film/broadcast/whatever) is when you have an author who writes not a polemic, but with an objectionable viewpoint that they have no idea whatsoever that their audience might not share.

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

"It depends" is my answer. To it all. Oh, well...

(A lot of people would say they're in favour of equal rights for everyone, and in fact are in favour of equal rights, but are still capable of coming out with occasional alarmingly racist or sexist statements, for example. I wouldn't stop being friends with a bloke cos he insisted on walking me to the station when it's dark, even if it's a stupidly sexist thing to insist on, etc.)

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I don't really care if people have opposing opinions to me, I more care about how they express them. If they're nasty, pushy, loudmouthed, or intolerant, I'll dislike them even if they agree with me.

[darkoshi]

How about including an "I would not be able to have an intimate relationship with someone if..." That's what I'm dealing with at the moment, except that lust and warm fuzzy feelings are overriding it.

Friends - It would be a matter of depth of friendship... I could probably be friends with anyone, no matter their views, if I enjoyed their company otherwise... but I probably wouldn't feel as good about them, or as close to them, as otherwise.

Work - I can work with anyone if they're not too obnoxious... and even if they were obnoxious, I might anyway if I really needed to, for the money. Now, as for working for someone... and I mean the person/people in charge, getting benefits from my work, not necessarily my actual supervisors... if they didn't believe in equal rights regardless of sexual orientation/gender/race, and I was aware of it... I would most likely choose to work for someone else (again, unless I was very desperate for a job). As for their politics, and beliefs regarding the war in Iraq or abortion, that probably wouldn't make much difference to me, unless I found out that they were using their influence/money in some significant way to support the war, or to support people trying to outlaw abortion, etc.

As for fiction writers... obviously, if I didn't know about their views, which in most cases I do not, it wouldn't make a difference. If such views showed up in the stuff I was reading, I probably wouldn't enjoy their writings. If their writing was otherwise enjoyable, but I knew such things about them... it might make me less likely to want to read their writings, or maybe not. Depends how much I liked the writing.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

If I didn't live in a nation where one party was not so vividly and clearly corrupt and vile (not that the Democrats are by any means good, but they are vastly better in comparsion) my answer about friendship and voting would be (and has in the past been) different. It's a sad commentary on the state of the US that things have gotten so dire. Of course, from what I hear from people in Australia, things are much the same there. Britain sounds much better these days.